Swing: The Best Musicians and Recordings

by Scott Yanow

Overview

(Book). Written by one of jazz journalism's best and most knowledgeable critics, this book explores the full swing spectrum from its origins in the 1920s through its current retro resurgence. Features intriguing capsule biographies of 400 of the best musicians, from classic artists like Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman to retro swingers such as the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, with each artist's most notable CDs reviewed and rated, plus info on film appearances, books, and hard-to-find recordings. Includes insightful essays that explore this music's cultural impact, fun photos and swing memorabilia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879306007
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2000
Series:	Third Ear Series
Pages:	526
Product dimensions:	7.44(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.27(d)

Editorial Reviews

The debut title in Miller Freeman's new "Third Ear" series ("designed to offer fresh perspectives on the breadth and depth of rich music genres"), this work encompasses the golden era of Swing (1935-46) in addition to the 1990s "Retro Swing" movement. Yanow, author of Duke Ellington and an editor of All Music Guide to Jazz, opted to class the more than 500 entries by musical specialty (Trumpeters, Guitarists, Female Vocalists, etc.) instead of using a straightforward A-Z organization. This approach effectively shows the threads of commonality and influence among the various performers in most of Swing's permutations. While he notes in his introduction the difficulty in choosing what and what not to include (Western Swing and 1950s Cool Jazz being the two genres that take the biggest hits), Yanow nevertheless offers excellent coverage, presenting reviews and ratings for 1500 recordings. A refreshingly non-verbose writing style and useful indexing make this a valuable reference. Besides showing Swing's importance in shaping American popular music, Yanow's book is also just plain fun to read. Recommended for all popular music collections.--David M. Turkalo, Suffolk Univ. Law Sch. Lib., Boston, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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